Conventional shoe laces which become untied or unduly loosened are an annoyance and a hazard to participants in sporting endeavors, as is well known. Furthermore, conventional athletic footwear has soft, lightweight, flexible uppers and often includes reinforced foot support, particularly in the arch. While such support has been provided with a "built-in, contoured arch support" and/or with a sole having a contoured, so-called "orthopedic" upper surfaces, with extreme physical activity including sudden starts, stops and the concomitant constant flexing of the soft upper, the wearer's feet may tend to slide somewhat within the upper. Worse still, the ties or laces of the shoe may loosen or become undone causing the wearer to be endangered and threatening the loss of the shoe, itself.
In accordance with the present invention, athletic footwear is provided with a supporting integral cinch arrangement, the two components of which are firmly anchored at the sole between the sole and the upper in the vicinity of the arch. Thus, when the cinching strap is pulled upwardly and over the foot and is connected to the cinch anchor, it contributes to the support under the arch of the foot and firmly adheres the footwear to the foot. At the same time, because the cinch strap folds and closes over the underlying conventional primary closure, such as shoe laces, the fastened, tightened cinch has the effect of holding the conventional closure of the footwear in place in a "fail-safe" manner.
Thus, the footwear of the invention remains firmly in place on the foot of the wearer, and the laces or primary closure is safely secured with the bottom of the foot maintained firmly, solidly, and comfortably against the contour of the upper surface of the sole.
The use of "Velcro" components to form the cinch is particularly appropriate because hooked and looped fastening strips may be locked tightly together and peeled apart easily; furthermore, the mating surfaces of the hooked portion and the looped portion may be infinitely adjusted in relation to each other to provide varying degrees of tightness in adjusting the closure in accordance with the needs and desires of the wearer.
Other objects and advantages of the footwear of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description in which athletic-type footwear is described, and from the accompanying drawings illustrating the various detailed aspects of the invention, with the particular illustrations depicting an open mesh upper on a generally solid wedge-type unit sole having an "orthopedic" contoured upper surface.